97- What was that sound?

“Yeah. He’s young though,” Eron said. “I mean, age is just one of many risk factors for full moons, but if he’s happy… Who knows. I haven’t told my family about you yet, for all we know Sladin has a true mate.”

“And you think you’re the black sheep,” I said, gently teasing. “Sounds like you’ve spent more time with your cousins than he has.”

He laughed. “Good point.” Then, he tilted his head. “What was that sound?”

“Mail,” I said, nodding to where a couple of envelopes had dropped through the mail slot and onto the rug. “I’ll get it.”

Before I could even stand, he was waving me off and heading for the door. He bent down and grabbed the letters.

“Hey, this one is for…” He trailed off and stared at it, eyes wide. “No way…” “What is it?” I asked.

“Oh my God,” he breathed. “I think it's from my mystery benefactor…” He stepped swiftly to the window and flung back the curtain, looking outside. He moved almost like he was suspicious, if not nervous.

“Your what?” I asked.

“It's kind of a long story,” he said. He walked to one of the tables and sat down, tapping the envelope on it like he was reluctant to open it.

“We have time,” I chuckled.

“I suppose we do,” agreed Eron. “Can I get you anything to eat before I tell you all about my weird stalker?”

“I’m fine, just quite curious,” I said. I stood and joined him, holding out a hand. He passed me the envelope and I studied it. It was just a plain, somewhat thick envelope addressed to him. No return address or anything.

“So... you know how I feel about my uh… my place in my family,” Eron began. I nodded. “Well, for most of my life, someone has given me gifts. Expensive gifts.”

My eyes narrowed. That wasn’t what I expected. “Expensive gifts? Like what?”

“One Christmas, all of my cousins wanted kayaks. I was probably twenty or so? Anyway, everyone wanted a kayak. But they were expensive and I…” He bowed his head and shrugged helplessly. “I didn’t feel like I deserved that much spent on me. So, I made it clear I did not want a kayak. And I didn’t get one… not from my aunt and uncle. But when spring came and my cousins went to try them out for the first time, there was an extra one in the boathouse. One with a card with nothing but my name on it.”

“Your aunt and uncle got it for you anyway?” I guessed.

He shook his head. “No. They didn’t. They didn’t know where it came from, neither did my cousins.”

“You’ve mentioned other aunts and uncles? And I think you said you have grandfathers?”

Eron shook his head again. “Half of them didn’t even know about the kayaks. The rest swore it wasn’t them. I was grateful, but confused. Then, a couple of years later, I went to pay my half of my college tuition – my aunt insisted on splitting it 50/50, she didn’t want me to pay at all – it was paid in full.”“And not by your aunt?” He shook his head. “You’re sure?”

“Positive. Aunt Verona… she’s a very compassionate, wonderful aunt. But if she had paid it, or gotten the kayak, she would have told me. Not because she wanted thanks or credit, but because

she’s… honest I guess. She wouldn’t do something like that and keep it a secret. Especially because she was pissed when she found out my tuition was paid. She was convinced that I did it instead of letting her help. And she was just as baffled as me when I said I thought it was her.”

“What about Carrick or Tessa? Or you other cousins? They all have their own businesses, right?

And they get a cut of all the lease money too.”

“They all swear it wasn’t them. And it has been going on long enough, I believe it.” “It didn’t stop with the tuition?”

“No.” He pointed toward the envelope I was still holding. “After tuition it was a sudden increase on the down payment on my café. Since then, it has been things like that. Every couple of years I get really nice equipment for the café. Once it was a full set of new chairs and tables. I woke up one morning to a whole pile of high-quality slate for my new patio. Another I was remodeling the part I like in, and it was paid in full overnight…”

“That’s… crazy. Could it be… maybe someone from your father’s family?”

Eron smiled grimly. “He didn’t have much family. I have a couple of distant relatives on that side, but nobody I’m close enough to, or wealthy enough, to do this for me. Plus I have no idea how this person even finds out what I’m doing or what I need…” He cast a look over his shoulder at the window. “It’s creepy sometimes…”

I nodded. It sure sounded creepy. Insanely generous. But also quite weird. I held out the envelope. “So, what’s this?”

“I never know. Half the time I don’t even know it’s coming. It just shows up. You can open it.”

Nervously, I slid my finger beneath the flap and tore it open. I pulled out a piece of paper. Blank expect for one, neatly written sentence: For your mate’s café.

I nearly dropped it. “He knows about me!”

Eron snatched it, then hissed. “How? Nobody knows about you! Well, Hobie does.” He glanced at me, “My assistant manager. And I know he isn’t buying me extravagant gifts; I didn’t even know him when my tuition got paid.”

“Could he have told someone?”

“Even if he did tell my family, which he promised not to, it’s not one of them. What was in there?”

“What was in… oh! Sorry, baby brain.” I picked up the contents on the envelope. “It looks like a receipt of some kind… for the purchase of…” My jaw dropped. “One thousand dollars of…” I frowned at it. “I can’t tell what was bought.”

“Nothing. Yet,” Eron said with a snort. He reached over and took the receipt. “Ah, my favorite coffee supplier. Of course.”

“The mystery benefactor bought you a thousand dollars worth of coffee?!”

“Not exactly.” Eron waved the receipt at me. “For a while he was sending me checks – don’t ask, I couldn’t trace them – and I refused to cash them. He’d wait about a month, and if the check wasn’t cashed, he’d just buy twice as much.” I frowned so he explained, “Like this receipt. It’s a wholesaler for beans. I’d get a check for say, one thousand, that would say it was for coffee beans, and if I never cashed it, I’d get two thousand dollars worth of beans delivered a month later.”

“So… whoever it is pretty much makes sure you benefit from the money,” I mused. “This just keeps getting stranger.”

“Yeah.” Eron shook his head as he frowned at the receipt. “So, now he just pre-pays for things. It’s almost like a gift card or a store credit. I get to place my own orders for what I need… on the house.”

I picked up the other receipts from the envelope and handed them over. Eron looked at them, shaking his head.

“One thousand for a commercial coffee maker supplier… two thousand for an appliance store, five hundred for a hardware shop…”

“He knows we’re going to clean things up and reopen?” I demanded. “Seems like it.”

“And just gave you…” I added it up. “Almost five thousand dollars for my café. For me. And you don’t even know who it is?!”

“Welcome to my life,” he said dryly. His face fell and I felt a flutter of emotion from our bond. “I’m sorry, Milan. I never even thought about him and what would happen once we were together. Honestly…” He laughed sadly. “For a while, I thought maybe it was my true mate. You know? Like for some reason he couldn’t be with me, so he sent me gifts instead. Obviously that’s not the case. I’m baffled. And I’m sorry you’ve been dragged into it.” He frowned and hissed. “I hope I haven’t put you in danger.”

I shook my head. “If whoever this is has done nothing but send you money, insane amounts of money, for fifty-some years, I don’t think there’s any animosity. It’s weird as well, but doesn’t seem dangerous. And I guess… he approves of me?”